When I was pregnant with SB, and I mean very pregnant- like 8 months pregnant, I got on the elevator at work along with 2 other women. Once the door closed, one woman glanced around and said "Wow...on the elevator with 2 pregnant women. I hope we don't get stuck!" I kind of laughed, but after a minute's pause, the third lady said, very quietly, "I'm not pregnant."
The remainder of the ride was very quiet.
It's amazing to me what people have the balls to say to total strangers. And I seem to be on the receiving end of a lot of uncouth comments lately.
One of the members at my gym commented the other day, as she was walking by me, that I was getting bigger (duh, that's usually the idea with pregnancy). I smiled (phony) and mumbled out some unremarkable reply, mostly in agreement. This prompted her to stop to have a full-blown conversation with me. Which I regret taking part in.
Her: Actually, you look kind of gassy. Do you have gas?
Me: No, I'm pretty sure it's just a baby in there. No gas.
Her: Funny, because you look like those people in the commercials who have gas.
Me: Yeah...no gas.
Her: Has anyone else told you that?
Me: That I look like I have gas? No.
Her: Yeah, well who else would really say that to you but me?
Me (thinking): I think you're on to something there.
Since I've been very irritable these past few days...weeks...months?...I have since not made any effort to initiate conversations with this particular lady. But I can't avoid her, she's one of the lunchtime class regulars. One morning she called in to sign up for class, and felt the need to further irritate me.
Her: I can't make the 12:15 class so sign me up for the 11:30 class. Are you teaching that?
Me: No, The Intern's teaching it.
Her: What are you teaching today?
Me: Nothing.
Her: But you're there...
Me: Yes I am...but I'm not teaching anything.
Why do people assume that just because I show up to work that I have to teach a class? And the weirdest thing is that a few weeks ago, she was giving me a hard time because I was still actively teaching classes...so now that I'm 8 months along as opposed to 6 months, it's all of a sudden unacceptable for me to lighten my teaching load? Or show up without having a class to teach?
I don't get it.
Anyway, even total strangers are taking part in this whole crossing the line with comments. I brought SB to the pool tonight (not the one with Rick James, this is the outdoor family pool). Since I feel too obese to squeeze into my bathing suit, and too sick and tired with a sore crotch to get into the pool myself, the plan was to just let SB splash around the wading pool. That way I could just sit on the side of the pool and not really exert myself, but SB could wear her little self out.
There were 2 little boys in the pool when we arrived, and one grandmother. At one point, Grandmother yelled at the lifeguard on duty because he had picked up her noodle that she had left at the edge of the big pool, and was smacking the water with it while on the phone. Personally, I didn't really think he was hurting anything by being on the phone because there was NO ONE in the big pool. Every single person there was in the wading pool area.
But that's not my business. I tend to keep to myself.
But out of the blue, Grandmother looked over at me and said "It must be 4:30." I had just checked my phone for messages so I knew that it was actually closer to 5:30, so I told her that.
Her response: Oh, because usually at 4:30 the pool changes color.
It took me a minute to digest that and figure out what she meant by that. Honestly, my first thought was that she was implying that someone peed in the pool every day at 4:30. But after glancing at the big pool, which had by this time become a little more populated, I realized she was referring to the color of the people enjoying the pool.
I didn't respond to that. It's one thing to warn me there aren't any Jews in Manchester, or to tell me I look gassy, but I was raised to be pretty much oblivious to color.
